MasterCard partnership brings Samsung Pay mobile payment service to Europe

Credit card firm MasterCard is extending its global partnership with Samsung Electronics Co. by leveraging the MasterCard Digital Enablement Service (MDES) to deliver Samsung Pay mobile payment service in Europe.

Samsung Pay will enable consumers to use their Samsung flagship mobile devices to make in-store purchases at contactless and magnetic stripe terminals using NFC and MST technologies.

European card issuers will be able to connect to the MDES platform and activate the Samsung Pay service upon launch.

Meanwhile, cardholders will be able to activate their credit, debit, reloadable prepaid and small business cards from participating issuers in the Samsung Pay service and make everyday purchases using their mobile devices.

Earlier this year, MasterCard announced it would provide the tokenization services to Samsung Pay for its secure transactions, enabling a quick scaling connection to bank partners in the U.S.

“Samsung Pay is pleased to join forces with MasterCard to offer a simple and safe mobile payment experience enabled for wider merchant acceptance to MasterCard cardholders and issuers in Europe,” said Injong Rhee, EVP of Samsung Electronics and global head of Samsung Pay. “Both organizations are committed to ground breaking fin-tech innovations that will deliver on the promise of a true mobile wallet.”

Samsung Pay is set to launch in the U.S. and South Korea later this summer. The electronics giant is currently partnering with banks and partners to expand the payment service to Europe.

Earlier this month, Samsung Payment began rolling out a trial version to select Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge users in South Korea.

Since the announcement of MDES in 2013, millions of MasterCard accounts have been tokenized for use in popular digital wallet services. The MasterCard service currently provides tokenization services for credit, debit, co-brand, prepaid and small business cards.

MDES’ private label tokenization will begin in the third quarter of this year, while tokenization services for app, eCommerce, and recurring billing card-on-file programs will be available to U.S. and Canadian merchants later this year and expand globally across all MDES-enabled markets.

“With the continued global growth and reliance on connected mobile devices, we are delighted to expand our relationship with Samsung by extending the reach of Samsung Pay and MDES to cardholders in Europe,” said Javier Perez, president of MasterCard Europe. “Europeans have been leading the way in the adoption of new ways to shop, buy and make a payment. Through our strong partnership with Samsung we look forward to continuing to drive innovation in mobile commerce by creating simple and secure digital payment experiences for consumers.”

Article Topics

biometric payment system  |  biometrics  |  Europe  |  Mastercard  |  Samsung  |  Samsung Pay  |  secure transactions